Hiding Under Water
by ineXpressible
Summary: Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji are three teens from three different worlds. When they are thrown together in a mental hospital, will their differences tear them apart or bring them closer? AU, InoShikaChou


_Posted: Oct. 11, 2006_

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the plot to this.

**Note**: For those of you following Surface Flaws, no I am not abandoning it. Chapter 7 is just in the final stages of being betad and will be up on Friday at the latest.

**Warnings**: Au, and threesome.

**Credits**:  
Lyrics:  
Bleed Like Me - **Garbage  
**Crazy - **Gnarls Barkley  
**Hiding Under Water - **Beth Hart**

**Summary**: _Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji are three teens from three different worlds. When they are thrown together in a mental hospital, will their differences tear them apart or bring them closer? AU, InoShikaChou

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**Hiding Under Water**

Prologue

Weakness trembled through her knees but she continued standing and let out a shrill laugh, poking the girl before her in the forehead.

"Like he'd ever like you over me," she snorted with a condescending air.

Sakura frowned at Ino and crossed her arms, "He likes girls with i _intelligence_ /i Ino, not id-- Hey, you okay? You look kind of pal…"

Ino stared at Sakura and felt her eyebrows draw inwards in confusion as the girl's lips continued moving soundlessly. Nothing but rushing silence pounded in her ears, building a soft pressure within her as her stomach tightened painfully. Her light body stumbled to the side, collapsing against a wall and she felt herself blush even as everything began to flicker in and out.

She was totally _not_ going to pass out in school…

But she did.

_She starves herself to rid herself of sin  
And the kick is so divine when she sees bones beneath her skin  
And she says:  
Hey baby can you bleed like me?  
C'mon baby can you bleed like me _

----

She kept addressing him with the same irritable question, and every time he refrained from replying - refrained from making any indication that he'd heard her.

"I've asked you three times now. Keeping with the theme of change, how do you feel Kiesha's decision affected the characters around her?" The teacher stared sternly at Shikamaru and he continued to stare at her with a solid expression on his face.

Thoughts were racing through his mind so fast he could barely keep track of them, they rushed around and pounded and screamed in his ears.

His gaze wandered to the window and he saw a man made of shadow standing, staring at him. There was a light whisper to his right and he turned his head in the direction, only to see a classmate staring at him with a strange expression. Shikamaru shrugged at the boy and turned back to the window. The man comprised of shadow was still there, watching him.

He frowned, wondering how that was logically possible as the whispers grew louder.

_I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind  
__There was something so pleasant about that phase.  
__Even your emotions had an echo  
__In so much space _

----

The table sunk under his weight as he sat down, alone. The sounds of his classmates laughing and talking clamored along the walls and slid through his veins as he pulled his lunch kit from his bag. He stared at the plastic box then opened and closed it three times -- three times -- three times.

There.

He sighed, feeling the anxious twitch in his eye subside and unpacked his sandwich, pulling through three layers of saran wrap. Chouji paused when the sandwich was halfway to his mouth and felt the twitch return.

He'd forgotten to say grace.

"Dear Lord, thank you for this meal I am about to eat. Amen. Amen. Amen."

And then he submerged himself in the food, one item after another finding it's way to his stomach and settling there - leaving him with a heaviness that was far from foreign.

_You say you got a feeling.  
You figured out the writing on the wall,  
And angels on the ceiling  
Don't calm you, when you call.  
So you found your own religion,  
And search your heart for something more.  
Stood naked in the kitchen, trying to wipe yourself off of the floor_

_- Fin - _

AN: So there's the prologue for you in all it's ambiguous beauty I'm actually really psyched for this literary adventure and I hope you guys enjoy it. Reviews are always appreciated.  
-TJ


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